Day 8: Arequipa

A good portion of today was spent on a bus - firstly making our way back from Chivay to Arequipa and then on to Cusco. We did manage to squeeze in a few sights though. En route to Arequipa we stopped at a mirador at 4,800m above sea level from where we could see the volcano Sabancayo smoking, plumes of smoke slowly billowing into the distant sky.

Back in Arequipa, hungry and tired, excitedly a bunch of us went hunting for the pizza place that the others had raved about. So disappointed when we discovered they didn't serve pizza until 5. So, we went back to the creparie we visited the first morning. I had to go get cash out, so after ordering I legged it out. Unfortunately, my flip flops had other plans and broke. So, angrily marching over hot ground with a broken flip flop in one hand, while amused locals smirked, I abandoned the mission and returned to the others. Food assuaged my hanger and en force, we trouped to the ATM (and flip flop shop) before heading to Santa Catalina convent.

The convent, a citadel in the heart of Arequipa, is a series of streets and courtyards that link cloisters and communal areas. Brightly coloured spaces, vivid oranges and blues, contrast the more somber cloisters painted white or not at all, creating an exciting composition of colour, tone, light and shade. As we moved around the internal streets, named after Spanish towns, we were pulled into the intriguing internal spaces either brightly lit or pitch black, and wove our way through this beautiful labyrinth. My only regret was not getting a tour guide, but it, architecturally anyway, has been one of my highlights of the trip so far. A wonderland, that, only for the towering volcano in the distance, could be in some quaint Spanish town. Amazingly the din of the traffic that surround the convent walls don't permeate the space, creating a sense of being truly removed from the hustle and bustle of city life.

With a bus to catch that evening, we had a strict time limit on our sightseeing. After the convent there was only time for a quick shower and to run into town to grab a bite to eat (pollo al brazo/rotisserie chicken - yum!) before boarding our night bus to Cusco, the less said about which the better...

Accommodation: Night bus
Weather: cold morning in Chivay; hot afternoon in Arequipa and a chilly evening.